The World Bank says at least 321,867 Nigerian small businesses received $1.4 billion in funding in six years.
The Washington-based development bank disclosed this in a report on Friday titled, ‘Tackling access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises’.
According to the World Bank, the Development Bank of Nigeria disbursed the funds to small enterprises, which included 66 percent women-owned and 12 percent first-time borrowers.
However, the bank admitted that access to finance remained a significant challenge for small businesses in Nigeria despite being the backbone of the economy.
“The DBN has earned a reputation for being even-handed, highly responsive, and innovative among its 28 Partner financial institutions. Key project achievements include wholesale funding to PFIs amounting to the naira equivalent of $1.4bn, on-lending to 321,867 MSMEs, of which 66 per cent are women-owned, and 12 per cent are first-time borrowers”.
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